Insight from a man who once believed, and maybe still does, that AIDS was a conspiracy to kill blacks. He saved this newest revelation for the right network, too: Here’s Obama supporter James Poniewozik, writing at Time about MSNBC’s absurdly breathless Obamapalooza ads.
On one of its incessantly running Inauguration Day promos, a narrator gushes, “When a new President inspires the nation, one day Americans will ask: where were you when Barack Obama became President?”
Besides the confusing timeline of that sentence, there’s something almost bludgeoningly hortatory about it. Mind you, I voted for Barack Obama enthusiastically, in the primaries and the general election–and yet hearing stuff like this (Obama = The Moon Landing) I can empathize with the people who didn’t.
Refresh my memory if I’m forgetting something, but when President Bush was inaugurated in 2001, I don’t remember promos this blatantly triumphalist even on Fox News. It passive-aggressively defies you to disagree with it, as it asserts that this guy who hasn’t even been sworn in yet will undeniably be an inspirational, nay, an historic figure. Even if you didn’t vote for him, you have to admit that Jan. 20 will be a truly amazing day. Right? You have to admit it, right? Well, admit it!
The difference between 2001 and now: Unlike Bush, Obama is an avatar heaven-sent to save America, a point made before by Lee and reaffirmed here with his theory of whose invisible hand was pushing the economy off a cliff in September. Exit question: Is anyone not watching MSNBC’s coverage of the inauguration tomorrow, just to see how obsequious they’ll be? I expect nothing less than tears from Matthews and an intimation from Olby that we’re seeing providence unspool before our very eyes. Click the image to watch.
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